Alex has had a really great few weeks. In the last entry we told you about the baptisms that have happened in Burlington lately and how much success these missionaries have had. Well, this week has been just as exciting. Alex and his companion have been teaching a relative of one of their recent baptisms and now this person has also decided that they want to become a member of the LDS church as well. Every time Alex writes to tell us about the people he has been teaching and how they have felt the spirit and decided to become members of the church, Alex end his sentences with multiple exclamation points !!!!! He has been really excited about the work in Burlington and about the newest members of the church in that branch.
Another big moment or rather, week long series of moments, happened when Alex was able to attend the leadership training classes for missionaries. The missionaries are being introduced to several new lessons and being taught how to listen and teach by the spirit more. The way that Alex described it to us was that they were up and attending training classes from 7:30 in the morning each day until 5:00 in the evening. Alex went on to tell us that he never new that he could actually enjoy 36 hours of church in one week, but he did. And he loved it. Alex told us that when he got back from all of the training, the best part was putting everything that he learned into practice and seeing how well it works.
In addition to the week of missionary training, Alex was also able to attend a Stake priesthood meeting in Topeka as well. He told us just how exciting it was to go to the priesthood meeting because a lot of the people that he met while serving in Lawrence were also there. He got to see the Bishop from the Ward where he served as well as many of the other leaders from that area. Then while traveling from Topeka to Olathe for the training classes, they passed through Lawrence so he got a chance to drop by his old stomping grounds and say hi to even more people that he knows. All in all this week of training and meetings was a very spiritual and fun week for Alex. Besides all of the training, he got to hang out with many of the other top missionaries in the mission, play a little basketball on his P-day and even buy a "super sick nike k-state shorts at tj maxx for only $15!! Legit!".
There was one last story that Alex told us about that happened to him while he was in Olathe. One night Alex and several other missionaries had the opportunity to meet and talk with an older gentleman who also happens to be a Pearl Harbor survivor. This WWII veteran told these missionaries all about his experience at Pearl Harbor and how he was actually standing on the deck of the USS California as the Japanese fighter planes were attacking. During the attack this man watched a Japanese Zero fly just above the water in the harbor right directly at the ship that he was standing on. In fact this plane flew so close that he could see the face of the Japanese pilot that was flying the plane. This was actually a very rare experience for these missionaries because there are only about 10% of the surviving WWII service men and women still alive today. And of that 10%, only a small fraction actually served at Pearl Harbor during the attack. Hearing a story like that from an actual Pearl Harbor survivor is pretty amazing. Then to top off the night, these Elders were able to lay their hands on the head of this man and give him a priesthood blessing. I'm sure that this will be one of the mission experiences that Alex will never forget.
The Bishop of our Ward recently visited Independence Missouri and while there, met several of the missionaries. Of course being Alex's home Ward Bishop, he asked these missionaries if they knew Alex. It turns out that one of the Sister missionaries that he talked to, had also just returned from the training meetings in Olathe. We mentioned this to Alex and he told us that this Sister missionary was part of his training group during the week so he got to know her quite well. Alex told us that she was a really nice girl and probably one of the best sister missionaries in the mission. It is always fun to hear from people who have come in contact with Alex even if it is kind of an indirect meeting. There is still a connection there and we are always happy to get any news we can about how Alex is doing.
Transfers are coming up again and like every other transfer, no matter where Alex has been, he really wants to stay where he is and not get transferred. The reason why is because he really gets attached to the people, the Ward or Branch and the missionary work in the area. In fact he gets so attached that wherever he is becomes the best place in the mission. So far Alex has served in four "best places" and I am sure that he will have an opportunity to serve in many more before his time is done. He loves it in Burlington and really wants to see it continue to grow.
As always, Alex included some more personal experiences in his letters. In some of these experiences, Alex talks about the testimonies of the people that he has been teaching and just how much the message that the missionaries have brough, mean to these people. These kinds of experiences have really made a big impression on Alex in letting him know that where he is and what he is doing right now, is the right place for him to be.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
A time and a place for special powers
Transfers came and went and Alex is still in Burlington. Normally places like Burlington are just temporary missionary assignments during the summer months while KU is out and all of the students have gone home. But Burlington might become a permanent location for missionaries given the fact that there has been so much success there lately. Alex actually told us that his mission president emailed him not long ago and told Alex that he may just leave missionaries in Burlington for as long as they are having success. If you remember back when Alex and his previous companion were sent to Burlington, there hadn't been permanent missionaries assigned there for many years. Well, maybe with the passing of all that time, the Lord has decided that the Burlington branch just needed to grow a little more and the people there were ready for that to happen. From what Alex has been telling us, the work is still going very strong in Burlington and he is very excited about many of the people that they are currently teaching.
This week Alex will be attending a series of mission leadership meeting in Olathe KS. Since Alex is a district leader, he has been given the opportunity to attend these training meetings and take back what he has learned to all of the other missionaries in his district. Alex told us that this training is actually part of a world wide missionary training and that they will be introduced to 8 new lessons. Alex has been really excited about attending this training for several reasons. First of all he just wants to learn more about how to do missionary work better. Second, it gives him a chance to talk with many of the other missionaries in the mission to see what they have been doing. Finally, it gives him a chance to reunite with some former companions and just reminisce about the good ole days (of course since Alex has only be out for less than a year, the good ole days could be a recent as last week ;-). Anyway, I am sure that he will have a lot to tell us about next week when he gets back to Burlington.
In this week's letter Alex told us all about some funny experiences that has happened to him over the last couple of weeks. So I thought that I would try to recount the stories here. The first one he told us was all about a dinner appointment that he and his companion went to with the family of one of their recent converts. As Alex told it, they were trying to cook a turkey in a oil-less fryer but things just weren't going as well as they hoped. So to try to compensate for an under cooked turkey, they ended up going to a local restaurant. While perusing the menu, Alex noticed that the restaurant happened to be serving up a dish which is normally everybody's favorite, Mountain Oysters. Here in Utah they usually call them Rocky Mountain Oysters. Well if you aren't familiar with what a Rocky Mountain Oyster is, just follow this link to find out(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_oysters ). Anyway, it's just like Alex to throw up a challenge, he told the people that he was with that if he ordered them and ate one, they needed to do the same. Well it just so happened that they took Alex up on that challenge. Alex downed the first one and actually kind of liked it. So to keep up with the challenge, everybody else ended up trying them too. Alex told us that he got some good pictures of them eating these delectable cuts of choice steer parts and they all had a really good time.
Apparently this last week as been filled will service projects. During the week they helped a new church member line their driveway with rail road ties, helped another neighbor tear down a ceiling in an old house and knocked down a wall so that they could replace it with new sheet rock. Of course Alex has to always find a game or challenge in everything. So while they were knocking down the wall, Alex bet the others that were there that he could punch a hole right through the wall. If I haven't mentioned this before, Alex is no stranger to breaking things with his bare hands. For a number of years Alex took taekwondo lessons at a local dojo and when it came time for his black belt test, he had to break five different boards using only his hands and feet. Well it has been a long time since those days of being a taekwondo black belt so to make things a little easier, he tried to make sure that where he was going to hit the wall, there were no studs behind it. Almost needless to say, he had a little trouble punching through the wall and it really hurt his hand. Well Mr. Genius might have figured out that there were no studs behind the wall that he was about to punch through, but he failed to check for the cabinet that just happened to be built into the other side of the wall. As I was reading this story, I was just imagining that Alex was going to tell us that the next thing he did was go to the emergency room with a broken hand, but as it turned out, he just has some very sore and scabby knuckles. I would say that he probably learned his lesson and he won't be doing that again, but then he probably will.
Alex goes on to tell us more about this construction service project that they were involved with. Apparently the person that owns the house is about 6'3. Alex's current companion is also about 6'3. Alex, on the other hand is only about 5'9. So as they were working on the demolition and reconstruction of this wall, Alex had a harder time reaching the taller parts. So Mr. Genius kicked in again and he decided that the only way to reach higher was to pile up bit of wall debris and then stand on the pile. Alex told us that they got some pretty funny pictures of him trying to compensate for the short genes that he inherited from his grandparents.
Finally one of the funniest stories that Alex told us was about a little boy whose parents Alex and his companion have been teaching recently. As it turns out, this little boy really likes a cartoon called Naruto. I have never actually seen this cartoon but Alex told us that it is all about a boy called Naruto that has special powers by making hand signals that activates the Jutsu (not sure what that is but I'm sure if you are a kid, it is really cool). Anyway, whenever Alex goes to visit this family, he and this little boy always play fight and use their special hand signals to activate the Jutsu. Well this family came to church last week and of course so did this little boy. When Alex saw this boy in the hallway, Alex immediately started playing and held up his fingers in one of the Jutsu signals. When this little boy say Alex do this, in true reverent fashion, he told Alex "hey, No Jutsu's in the church!!!". Apparently before they got to church, this little boys father taught him what it means to be reverent in church. Alex said that it was one of the funniest things that he had ever heard. It looks like Alex got put in his place by a 3 year old. :-)
This week Alex will be attending a series of mission leadership meeting in Olathe KS. Since Alex is a district leader, he has been given the opportunity to attend these training meetings and take back what he has learned to all of the other missionaries in his district. Alex told us that this training is actually part of a world wide missionary training and that they will be introduced to 8 new lessons. Alex has been really excited about attending this training for several reasons. First of all he just wants to learn more about how to do missionary work better. Second, it gives him a chance to talk with many of the other missionaries in the mission to see what they have been doing. Finally, it gives him a chance to reunite with some former companions and just reminisce about the good ole days (of course since Alex has only be out for less than a year, the good ole days could be a recent as last week ;-). Anyway, I am sure that he will have a lot to tell us about next week when he gets back to Burlington.
In this week's letter Alex told us all about some funny experiences that has happened to him over the last couple of weeks. So I thought that I would try to recount the stories here. The first one he told us was all about a dinner appointment that he and his companion went to with the family of one of their recent converts. As Alex told it, they were trying to cook a turkey in a oil-less fryer but things just weren't going as well as they hoped. So to try to compensate for an under cooked turkey, they ended up going to a local restaurant. While perusing the menu, Alex noticed that the restaurant happened to be serving up a dish which is normally everybody's favorite, Mountain Oysters. Here in Utah they usually call them Rocky Mountain Oysters. Well if you aren't familiar with what a Rocky Mountain Oyster is, just follow this link to find out(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_oysters ). Anyway, it's just like Alex to throw up a challenge, he told the people that he was with that if he ordered them and ate one, they needed to do the same. Well it just so happened that they took Alex up on that challenge. Alex downed the first one and actually kind of liked it. So to keep up with the challenge, everybody else ended up trying them too. Alex told us that he got some good pictures of them eating these delectable cuts of choice steer parts and they all had a really good time.
Apparently this last week as been filled will service projects. During the week they helped a new church member line their driveway with rail road ties, helped another neighbor tear down a ceiling in an old house and knocked down a wall so that they could replace it with new sheet rock. Of course Alex has to always find a game or challenge in everything. So while they were knocking down the wall, Alex bet the others that were there that he could punch a hole right through the wall. If I haven't mentioned this before, Alex is no stranger to breaking things with his bare hands. For a number of years Alex took taekwondo lessons at a local dojo and when it came time for his black belt test, he had to break five different boards using only his hands and feet. Well it has been a long time since those days of being a taekwondo black belt so to make things a little easier, he tried to make sure that where he was going to hit the wall, there were no studs behind it. Almost needless to say, he had a little trouble punching through the wall and it really hurt his hand. Well Mr. Genius might have figured out that there were no studs behind the wall that he was about to punch through, but he failed to check for the cabinet that just happened to be built into the other side of the wall. As I was reading this story, I was just imagining that Alex was going to tell us that the next thing he did was go to the emergency room with a broken hand, but as it turned out, he just has some very sore and scabby knuckles. I would say that he probably learned his lesson and he won't be doing that again, but then he probably will.
Alex goes on to tell us more about this construction service project that they were involved with. Apparently the person that owns the house is about 6'3. Alex's current companion is also about 6'3. Alex, on the other hand is only about 5'9. So as they were working on the demolition and reconstruction of this wall, Alex had a harder time reaching the taller parts. So Mr. Genius kicked in again and he decided that the only way to reach higher was to pile up bit of wall debris and then stand on the pile. Alex told us that they got some pretty funny pictures of him trying to compensate for the short genes that he inherited from his grandparents.
Finally one of the funniest stories that Alex told us was about a little boy whose parents Alex and his companion have been teaching recently. As it turns out, this little boy really likes a cartoon called Naruto. I have never actually seen this cartoon but Alex told us that it is all about a boy called Naruto that has special powers by making hand signals that activates the Jutsu (not sure what that is but I'm sure if you are a kid, it is really cool). Anyway, whenever Alex goes to visit this family, he and this little boy always play fight and use their special hand signals to activate the Jutsu. Well this family came to church last week and of course so did this little boy. When Alex saw this boy in the hallway, Alex immediately started playing and held up his fingers in one of the Jutsu signals. When this little boy say Alex do this, in true reverent fashion, he told Alex "hey, No Jutsu's in the church!!!". Apparently before they got to church, this little boys father taught him what it means to be reverent in church. Alex said that it was one of the funniest things that he had ever heard. It looks like Alex got put in his place by a 3 year old. :-)
Monday, July 26, 2010
Fun and exciting times in Burlington
Time just seems to be fly by. We are already starting to hit different anniversary marks with Alex's mission. In about another week, it will be one year since Alex received his mission call. The way Alex put it was like this:
One of the nice things about baptisms is that it provides an opportunity for a missionary who might have been transferred out of the area, to return to the area to attend the baptismal service. In this case, Alex's previous companion who had been transferred to a different city, was able to return briefly for this baptismal service. If you hadn't noticed already from several of the previous posts, Alex and his previous companion had become very good friends and loved working together in both Lawrence and Burlington. Being back in Burlington for the baptismal service also gave them a chance to relive some of the old days, OK maybe not that old, and do a little tracting together again. Alex told us that while they were out tracting once again, they ran across a bunch of guys that might have had a little too much to drink. When Alex and his companion met them, these guys were about to climb onto a riding lawn mower just to spin a few donuts. Alex and his former companion stopped to talk to these guys just to see what they were doing and ended up striking up a conversation about the church (as if that wasn't the plan all along ;-). They actually set up an appointment to teach one of them the next day but Alex told us that the appointment didn't turn out so well. However that isn't the end of the story. The next Sunday at church, Alex and his companion where sitting in Sacrament meeting when one of the members of the branch tapped them on the shoulder and told them that somebody was out in the hallway wanting to see them. It turned out to be this guy from the riding lawn mower contact. It turns out that this guy had walked all the way across town just to find the missionaries at the Mormon church and to ask them to come back and teach him more. The whole thing really surprised both of these Elders, that somebody would actually go to all of that effort just to find out more about the gospel. As Alex put it, usually the missionaries are having to work hard to find people to teach. How often does somebody just show up at the church and ask to be taught more. I guess we will see if there is anymore to this story later on.
I mentioned at the beginning of this entry that one of the people that Alex had been teaching was baptized a couple of weeks ago. Well this last weekend Alex was able to baptize two more people. Alex told us that all of these people are really great and that they all have wonderful testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. In every one of his letters this last month when he talked about the people that he has been teaching and how close they were to being baptized, he has been so excited. Not just because these people were going to be baptized, but because they were happy to be joining the church and that it would be making a big difference in their lives.
We received Alex's memory card from his camera this week. That means that we have new pictures of where Alex has been and what he has been doing. I picked out a few of them that relate to some of the previous blog entries. A while back Alex told us all about the new (old) Schwinn bike that he picked up from one of the other missionaries. Well Alex sent us a picture of this sweet ride.
Alex sent us this video of a typical Kansas rain storm. Well maybe it isn't really a typical rain storm. More like a typical tornado. Luckily they were both safely inside of the church building rather than outside in the middle of the storm. Alex told us in his last letter that they had another tornado watch this last week. The way that he describes it is "fun and unusual". I think that I would describe it more as being a bit scary. He told us all about the chain lightning during the storms and how sometimes the lightning seems to go from the ground up to the clouds rather than the other way around. Just another day in the life of a couple of missionaries.
"So this week has flown by! The longer I am out on my mission the faster it seems to go by! I am so close to my year mark I can taste it! Only three more months to go, and if they keep getting faster I am going to be home before I blink! It just blows my mind how fast the time goes by out here, but then at the same time it seems like it has been forever since I have been home."In his letter home a couple of weeks ago, Alex went on to talk about how he is now so into missionary work, that it is hard for him to remember what life was like before being a missionary.
"I don’t really remember what it was like to wake up and do normal things ha ha. It is actually a really neat feeling, I finally feel like a real missionary. But I still feel like a greenie at the same time! Its crazy to see how much you learn out here too, I mean it feels like I don’t know anymore than when I left but when I think about the difference in Wamego [(first area)] and then here it is HUGE!!"Getting into the missionary work and working hard is what makes the time go by so fast. Burlington has been a great place for Alex to do missionary work as well. Alex told us that he was finally able to perform a baptism in this area. He was so excited to tell us all about it in his letter. I won't go into all of the details here, but Alex told us that the baptismal service went very well and the person that was baptized was very excited to become a member of the LDS church. Alex told us that they are currently teaching several more people that have also been touched by the gospel and are close to being baptized. What a great blessing for the Burlington branch. It is always great to see the church grow whether it is in a small branch or a large ward.
One of the nice things about baptisms is that it provides an opportunity for a missionary who might have been transferred out of the area, to return to the area to attend the baptismal service. In this case, Alex's previous companion who had been transferred to a different city, was able to return briefly for this baptismal service. If you hadn't noticed already from several of the previous posts, Alex and his previous companion had become very good friends and loved working together in both Lawrence and Burlington. Being back in Burlington for the baptismal service also gave them a chance to relive some of the old days, OK maybe not that old, and do a little tracting together again. Alex told us that while they were out tracting once again, they ran across a bunch of guys that might have had a little too much to drink. When Alex and his companion met them, these guys were about to climb onto a riding lawn mower just to spin a few donuts. Alex and his former companion stopped to talk to these guys just to see what they were doing and ended up striking up a conversation about the church (as if that wasn't the plan all along ;-). They actually set up an appointment to teach one of them the next day but Alex told us that the appointment didn't turn out so well. However that isn't the end of the story. The next Sunday at church, Alex and his companion where sitting in Sacrament meeting when one of the members of the branch tapped them on the shoulder and told them that somebody was out in the hallway wanting to see them. It turned out to be this guy from the riding lawn mower contact. It turns out that this guy had walked all the way across town just to find the missionaries at the Mormon church and to ask them to come back and teach him more. The whole thing really surprised both of these Elders, that somebody would actually go to all of that effort just to find out more about the gospel. As Alex put it, usually the missionaries are having to work hard to find people to teach. How often does somebody just show up at the church and ask to be taught more. I guess we will see if there is anymore to this story later on.
I mentioned at the beginning of this entry that one of the people that Alex had been teaching was baptized a couple of weeks ago. Well this last weekend Alex was able to baptize two more people. Alex told us that all of these people are really great and that they all have wonderful testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. In every one of his letters this last month when he talked about the people that he has been teaching and how close they were to being baptized, he has been so excited. Not just because these people were going to be baptized, but because they were happy to be joining the church and that it would be making a big difference in their lives.
We received Alex's memory card from his camera this week. That means that we have new pictures of where Alex has been and what he has been doing. I picked out a few of them that relate to some of the previous blog entries. A while back Alex told us all about the new (old) Schwinn bike that he picked up from one of the other missionaries. Well Alex sent us a picture of this sweet ride.
The internet picture that I posted of the bike was close, but the color was a little bit different. We haven't heard much more about this bike for a while. Although, Alex also sent us some video of he and his companion jumping their bikes off a ledge on the side of the road. From the looks of the video, it didn't seem like one of their more brilliant ideas. But it was funny ;-).
We aren't really sure what Alex and his companion were trying to do in this picture, but they sure seem to be excited about whatever it was. These two missionaries just loved doing missionary work and from the sound of all of Alex's letters, they always seemed to be excited to get going every day.
For some reason riding lawn mowers seems to be one of Alex's fascinations out there in Kansas. The last time that Alex sent home pictures from his camera, it also included a picture of him on a brand new riding mower just excited to take a ride. His other fascination seems to be NASCAR. We have heard several stories about discussions with people that they met that started off talking about NASCAR. Alex even gave us a run down on all of the top NASCAR drivers. All of these conversations eventually lead to missionary work and teaching the gospel, but hey, if NASCAR gets you a foot in the door, why not take it. In this case, if climbing on a riding lawn mower and doing a little community service gets you an opportunity to teach, the mission better start teaching missionaries how to work one of these things.
I have never actually been to Kansas or any of the other mid-western states. But I have heard that it is very flat. In this picture Alex is walking down one of the streets that heads out of town. If you click on the picture and take a closer look at this road, it doesn't seem to end until it hits the horizon where the earth finally curves enough that you can no longer see the road. The only place in Utah were you can see this same kind of thing is out near the Great Salt Lake on the Bonneville Salt Flats. This is where many car enthusiasts meet once a year to try to set new land speed records due to the fact that the salt flats are so flat and long. Everywhere else in Utah is mountains. I can just imagine that there have probably been a few car races along this road as well. Hopefully none of them involved any mission vehicles. ;-)
A couple of months ago Alex and his companion had the opportunity to tour a nuclear power plant. Here you see a couple of missionaries ready to teach the gospel no matter where they are. Give them a couple of hard hats, safety glasses and some gloves and they are ready for anything. In the letter that Alex sent home when he told us all about this tour, he was very impressed by all of the pipes, tubes and electronics that goes into running a nuclear power plant. He just couldn't get over just how complex a place like that is. Of course they couldn't actually get in to see the nuclear reactor itself, but they did get to see a lot of cool stuff.
It has been a long time since Alex was able to sit in a chair without touching his feet on the ground. I guess he still has some growing to do.
Alex sent us this video of a typical Kansas rain storm. Well maybe it isn't really a typical rain storm. More like a typical tornado. Luckily they were both safely inside of the church building rather than outside in the middle of the storm. Alex told us in his last letter that they had another tornado watch this last week. The way that he describes it is "fun and unusual". I think that I would describe it more as being a bit scary. He told us all about the chain lightning during the storms and how sometimes the lightning seems to go from the ground up to the clouds rather than the other way around. Just another day in the life of a couple of missionaries.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Being prepared for the moment
It has been a few weeks since we updated you on all of the things that Alex has been doing. In the last entry we told you that Alex now has a new companion. The work is moving forward and Alex told us that several of the people that they have been teaching have been attending the LDS church meetings and are interested in joining the church. Alex is really hoping and praying that they will be able to hold some baptismal services fairly soon. These kinds of experiences really make a mission worth it. Especially when a missionary is able to share the message of the gospel with someone else and watch that person come to know and love the message. This is basically the type of experience that Alex has been having over the last few weeks and it has made him really feel good about all of the work.
Of course, in between all of the teaching and spiritual moments that a missionary has, there are those down times when they can just have some good old fashion fun. Alex told us a story about a recent Branch social that they attended where he had the opportunity to play a little sand volleyball. Little did the Branch members know, but Alex spent quite a bit of time playing volleyball with all of his high school friends before his mission. Of course I have never actually seen Alex play volleyball so we will just have to take Alex's word for it when he says that he plays fairly well. Well during the game, as we all know from our experiences with Ward basketball, the two sides got a little "competitive" and Alex decided that it was his turn to quite one of the more vocal members of the opposing team. It was Alex's turn at serving the ball and he claims that he was just "wrecking the other team" on his serves. Then with one very strong and well placed serve, apparently Alex knocked the smack talker right on his derriere. Alex never told us what the final score was, but he did say that they all had a really good time and the volleyball game was the highlight of the social.
If you know much about the Independence Missouri area, it is rich with LDS Church history. Since there is so much history there, many members of the Church also visit during the summer months. This presents a bit of a unique opportunity for missionaries in this area in that some of the visitors are friends and relatives of the missionaries that are serving there. Alex's grandparents where in the Independence area just a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to visit with the mission president for a few minutes. Then just about a week ago, one of Alex's good wrestling buddies also passed through Independence on a family trip. This time Alex happened to be at a zone conference near Independence and was able to find a little bit of time to see and talk to his friend. What made it even better is that his friend recently received his mission call and this would be the last time that they would see each other for the next three years. Alex told us just how much fun it was to be able to visit for a little while and just how much of a boost it was to his spirits. They didn't have very much time to talk because some of the other Elders had to get back to their areas after the zone conference to be on time for some teaching appointments. As always, when you are on a mission, the work comes first.
While Alex was at the same zone conference he also had another great experience. Of course whenever there is a conference of any kind in the mission, the mission president is always there. One of the things that Alex's mission president tries to do whenever he is around his missionaries, is to try to greet each one and spend a little bit of time talking with them to find out how things are going. This conference was no different. Alex told us that during many of their conferences they have an opportunity to watch a spiritual and motivational video about a football player who crawls a 100 yards across the field while his coach is yelling at him to do his best. These were all the details about the video that Alex included in his letter so if you have actually seen it, you probably have a better idea of what Alex is talking about. Anyway, this video must be very inspiring for the missionaries because Alex told us that it almost makes him cry every time he watches it. Well, later as the mission president was making his rounds and spending a few minutes talking with each of the missionaries, Alex finally had his turn. During their conversation, the mission president told Alex just how proud he was of all of the work that Alex had been doing. In Alex's words,
People ask us at times how we raised such a good young man. I tell them that Alex just came that way. All we did was allowed him to grow in our home.
So here is a funny story that Alex told us about in his last letter. It is all about a group of missionaries doing what they do best and that is preaching the gospel. Alex started out the story by explaining that he and his backpack are like a woman and her purse. His backpack goes with him everywhere. As Alex explained it:
Alex told us a little bit about what they did on the 4th of July. He said that they had met somebody new that day who was interested in learning more about the Church so they spent part of the day teaching as well as attending their Church meetings. Later on that night they enjoyed some BBQ with the family that they live with and watched the fireworks over Burlington. Alex said that the fireworks in Kansas put Utah fireworks to shame. That's not hard since Utah bans anything that shoots up over 15 feet and in Kansas just about anything goes. He told us that they spent the rest of the evening watching all of the big fireworks and making fun of the little fountains by calling them "Utah fireworks".
The other day Alex and his companion were walking through the church building and decided to check out the condition of the baptismal font. What they found was what you could classify as a mixed blessing. When they opened up the door to the baptismal font, they found that all of the recent rains had caused the sewer to back up. This left a pretty big mess that they now needed to clean up. The reason why this was a mixed blessing is because this could have been a disaster if instead of just checking things out, they had actually had a baptismal service planned and then found this mess. At least now it gave them some time to get everything cleaned up and ready to go for when they do have a baptism scheduled. Alex said that he wasn't really looking forward to having to scrub the font out with bleach, but hey, missionary work is missionary work. Sometimes it isn't pretty.
Of course, in between all of the teaching and spiritual moments that a missionary has, there are those down times when they can just have some good old fashion fun. Alex told us a story about a recent Branch social that they attended where he had the opportunity to play a little sand volleyball. Little did the Branch members know, but Alex spent quite a bit of time playing volleyball with all of his high school friends before his mission. Of course I have never actually seen Alex play volleyball so we will just have to take Alex's word for it when he says that he plays fairly well. Well during the game, as we all know from our experiences with Ward basketball, the two sides got a little "competitive" and Alex decided that it was his turn to quite one of the more vocal members of the opposing team. It was Alex's turn at serving the ball and he claims that he was just "wrecking the other team" on his serves. Then with one very strong and well placed serve, apparently Alex knocked the smack talker right on his derriere. Alex never told us what the final score was, but he did say that they all had a really good time and the volleyball game was the highlight of the social.
If you know much about the Independence Missouri area, it is rich with LDS Church history. Since there is so much history there, many members of the Church also visit during the summer months. This presents a bit of a unique opportunity for missionaries in this area in that some of the visitors are friends and relatives of the missionaries that are serving there. Alex's grandparents where in the Independence area just a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to visit with the mission president for a few minutes. Then just about a week ago, one of Alex's good wrestling buddies also passed through Independence on a family trip. This time Alex happened to be at a zone conference near Independence and was able to find a little bit of time to see and talk to his friend. What made it even better is that his friend recently received his mission call and this would be the last time that they would see each other for the next three years. Alex told us just how much fun it was to be able to visit for a little while and just how much of a boost it was to his spirits. They didn't have very much time to talk because some of the other Elders had to get back to their areas after the zone conference to be on time for some teaching appointments. As always, when you are on a mission, the work comes first.
While Alex was at the same zone conference he also had another great experience. Of course whenever there is a conference of any kind in the mission, the mission president is always there. One of the things that Alex's mission president tries to do whenever he is around his missionaries, is to try to greet each one and spend a little bit of time talking with them to find out how things are going. This conference was no different. Alex told us that during many of their conferences they have an opportunity to watch a spiritual and motivational video about a football player who crawls a 100 yards across the field while his coach is yelling at him to do his best. These were all the details about the video that Alex included in his letter so if you have actually seen it, you probably have a better idea of what Alex is talking about. Anyway, this video must be very inspiring for the missionaries because Alex told us that it almost makes him cry every time he watches it. Well, later as the mission president was making his rounds and spending a few minutes talking with each of the missionaries, Alex finally had his turn. During their conversation, the mission president told Alex just how proud he was of all of the work that Alex had been doing. In Alex's words,
"Then he started crying and said that I was a 100 yard missionary if he had ever seen one. It made me feel so good!"
So here is a funny story that Alex told us about in his last letter. It is all about a group of missionaries doing what they do best and that is preaching the gospel. Alex started out the story by explaining that he and his backpack are like a woman and her purse. His backpack goes with him everywhere. As Alex explained it:
"I never take it off and it goes with me everywhere I go, even if its not really needed. I figure you never know when you are going to need to give out a BOM."Apparently the other night they were staying with the Elders from Topeka in their apartment. For whatever reason, they needed to go to Walmart at about 9 o'clock that evening. True to form Alex grabbed his backpack and put it on as they got out of the car. One of the other Elders started kidding around with Alex and giving him a hard time about always taking his backpack with him everywhere. Alex, half jokingly, told the Elder that you never know when you will need to give out a Book of Mormon and he was praying that it would happen at Walmart. They just need to show a little more faith. The other Elder responded by telling Alex that you can't pray for something like that just out of spite. Within ten seconds after their little test of faith, a man walked up next to them in the parking lot and started talking to the missionaries. Alex immediately asked the man if he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. The man told Alex that he had. Then Alex asked the man if he had ever seen one. Right about that time Alex looked over at the other Elder with kind of an "I told you so" look on his face and a big grin. The man told Alex that he had never seen a Book of Mormon so Alex pulled one out of his backpack. Right there in the parking lot of Walmart they started introducing this man to the Book of Mormon and what it means for members of the LDS church. Once the conversation was over, the man left and the missionaries continued on into the store. Once inside, Alex pumped his fist in the air and they were all super excited about what just happened. Alex mentioned that the man was from another state so they probably wouldn't have a chance to talk to him again. But because he had his backpack with him, an opportunity to simply place a Book of Mormon and plant a seed, was not wasted.
Alex told us a little bit about what they did on the 4th of July. He said that they had met somebody new that day who was interested in learning more about the Church so they spent part of the day teaching as well as attending their Church meetings. Later on that night they enjoyed some BBQ with the family that they live with and watched the fireworks over Burlington. Alex said that the fireworks in Kansas put Utah fireworks to shame. That's not hard since Utah bans anything that shoots up over 15 feet and in Kansas just about anything goes. He told us that they spent the rest of the evening watching all of the big fireworks and making fun of the little fountains by calling them "Utah fireworks".
The other day Alex and his companion were walking through the church building and decided to check out the condition of the baptismal font. What they found was what you could classify as a mixed blessing. When they opened up the door to the baptismal font, they found that all of the recent rains had caused the sewer to back up. This left a pretty big mess that they now needed to clean up. The reason why this was a mixed blessing is because this could have been a disaster if instead of just checking things out, they had actually had a baptismal service planned and then found this mess. At least now it gave them some time to get everything cleaned up and ready to go for when they do have a baptism scheduled. Alex said that he wasn't really looking forward to having to scrub the font out with bleach, but hey, missionary work is missionary work. Sometimes it isn't pretty.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The end of a good run and the start of another
It is time for transfers again. It is strange how fast six weeks goes by. The sad news about this transfer is that Alex's companion may be transferred out of Burlington which means that Alex will be getting a new companion. Alex told us in his last letter that he is really sad to see the end of the "triumphant run" that he and his companion have had. Alex also said that 4 1/2 months is a really long time for a missionary companionship to be together so they are really grateful that they were able to spend so much time together. These two missionaries have done a lot of good work over the last few months and have had a really good time doing it. This is the kind of thing that makes missionary work worth all of the effort that it takes.
From what Alex told us, it seems that two new assistants to the president where also called. Apparently one of them is also a former high school wrestler as well. Alex said that he got a call from a missionary friend of his who asked Alex what weight he wrestled in high school. Alex told him that he wrestled at 152 but now weighs around 170. It seems that maybe this new assistant to the president might have wanted to setup a little wrestling match on a future P-Day. Unfortunately, Alex is much bigger than the other missionary which meant that it really wouldn't have been a fair match. But who knows, there might be some other opportunities for Alex to coach a little more like he did in Wamego. Being a volunteer coach is a good way to get to know a lot of people in the community.
Alex and his companion spent their last week together trying to teach and work as much as they possibly could. Alex told us about several of the people that they are currently teaching along with several new people that they have recently met. Some of them have been very interested in learning more about the LDS church and have been spending quite a bit of time reading the Book of Mormon. In one of their visits, Alex mentioned that the person that they were teaching had a lot of questions about different things that they had read. Missionaries love it when people have questions because that just means that the person is very interested in what they are learning and also wanting to learn more. I mentioned that Alex and his companion had spent time this last week working as well, meaning that they spent time doing more than just tracting and teaching. Alex told us about a couple that they have been teaching who had recently cut down a huge tree in their yard but had not yet stacked the wood and cleaned up. So Alex and his companion decided to pitch in and do their part to help this couple clean up their yard. Later on that day these missionaries also baked a big double layer chocolate cake for the couple since both of their birthdays were coming up soon. A mission is really all about service in all different ways.
It seems that Alex and his companion have had a small problem that they have had to deal with lately. Apparently Burlington doesn't see very many new faces in town, especially two young good looking Elders. Alex said that almost everyday since they arrived in Burlington, there is some kind of incident that happens involving girls between the ages of 13 and 21. Now before you jump to any conclusions here, what I am talking about are incidents such as a car full of girls driving down the street and then going around the block or flipping a U-turn just so that they can drive past these Elders again. Alex said that it was really funny when a group of girls drove past them for a second time and had just turned around for a third. At that point both Alex and his companion quickly shot down an alley just so that they could ditch the girls. One of the funniest stories that Alex told what when they were in the super market one day and actually saw two girls run into each other at the end of an isle because they were so distracted checking out these two missionaries. There is nothing to worry about here, Alex said that these incidents happen almost every day and they both think that it is really funny.
Well transfer day finally came and sure enough, Alex's companion did get transferred. Alex now has a new companion for at least the next six weeks and they are both trying to figure each other out and trying to move forward with their missionary work. It is sometimes a little hard to get a new companion especially when the last companionship worked so well. But life as a missionary is always changing and there are always new things to learn from every new experience.
So here is a glimpse into the life of a missionary on a very busy day. Alex told us that they finally had a baptism the other day, which is really great. In addition to the family of the young man you was baptized, they also had a lot of people there who are currently interested in learning more about the LDS church. During the baptism service, Alex had the opportunity to give the talk about the Holy Ghost and what that means. Then in addition to all of that, Alex said that they had a really crazy Sunday too. Alex spoke in Sacrament meeting, taught the gospel principles lesson during Sunday School, helped teach the young men during priesthood meeting and then right after church the branch members ask Alex to put together a program to be presented at the senior citizens center. Alex said that part of the senior citizens program included Alex and a few other boys playing the guitar, singing a song and then teaching a small lesson about faith. Alex mentioned that one of the young men that participated in the program, gave their little group the name of "Elder Nicholes and the three Nephites". Then after doing all of that, they went home and help make dinner for the family that they live with and a couple that they have been teaching. I am sure that when Sunday was over, Alex was very tired but also very satisfied with all that he was able to accomplish.
In addition to all of these events that have happened in the last week, Alex also told us about some really great experiences that they had with some of the other people that they are currently teaching. Hopefully these kinds of experiences will continue and more good things will happen.
From what Alex told us, it seems that two new assistants to the president where also called. Apparently one of them is also a former high school wrestler as well. Alex said that he got a call from a missionary friend of his who asked Alex what weight he wrestled in high school. Alex told him that he wrestled at 152 but now weighs around 170. It seems that maybe this new assistant to the president might have wanted to setup a little wrestling match on a future P-Day. Unfortunately, Alex is much bigger than the other missionary which meant that it really wouldn't have been a fair match. But who knows, there might be some other opportunities for Alex to coach a little more like he did in Wamego. Being a volunteer coach is a good way to get to know a lot of people in the community.
Alex and his companion spent their last week together trying to teach and work as much as they possibly could. Alex told us about several of the people that they are currently teaching along with several new people that they have recently met. Some of them have been very interested in learning more about the LDS church and have been spending quite a bit of time reading the Book of Mormon. In one of their visits, Alex mentioned that the person that they were teaching had a lot of questions about different things that they had read. Missionaries love it when people have questions because that just means that the person is very interested in what they are learning and also wanting to learn more. I mentioned that Alex and his companion had spent time this last week working as well, meaning that they spent time doing more than just tracting and teaching. Alex told us about a couple that they have been teaching who had recently cut down a huge tree in their yard but had not yet stacked the wood and cleaned up. So Alex and his companion decided to pitch in and do their part to help this couple clean up their yard. Later on that day these missionaries also baked a big double layer chocolate cake for the couple since both of their birthdays were coming up soon. A mission is really all about service in all different ways.
It seems that Alex and his companion have had a small problem that they have had to deal with lately. Apparently Burlington doesn't see very many new faces in town, especially two young good looking Elders. Alex said that almost everyday since they arrived in Burlington, there is some kind of incident that happens involving girls between the ages of 13 and 21. Now before you jump to any conclusions here, what I am talking about are incidents such as a car full of girls driving down the street and then going around the block or flipping a U-turn just so that they can drive past these Elders again. Alex said that it was really funny when a group of girls drove past them for a second time and had just turned around for a third. At that point both Alex and his companion quickly shot down an alley just so that they could ditch the girls. One of the funniest stories that Alex told what when they were in the super market one day and actually saw two girls run into each other at the end of an isle because they were so distracted checking out these two missionaries. There is nothing to worry about here, Alex said that these incidents happen almost every day and they both think that it is really funny.
Well transfer day finally came and sure enough, Alex's companion did get transferred. Alex now has a new companion for at least the next six weeks and they are both trying to figure each other out and trying to move forward with their missionary work. It is sometimes a little hard to get a new companion especially when the last companionship worked so well. But life as a missionary is always changing and there are always new things to learn from every new experience.
So here is a glimpse into the life of a missionary on a very busy day. Alex told us that they finally had a baptism the other day, which is really great. In addition to the family of the young man you was baptized, they also had a lot of people there who are currently interested in learning more about the LDS church. During the baptism service, Alex had the opportunity to give the talk about the Holy Ghost and what that means. Then in addition to all of that, Alex said that they had a really crazy Sunday too. Alex spoke in Sacrament meeting, taught the gospel principles lesson during Sunday School, helped teach the young men during priesthood meeting and then right after church the branch members ask Alex to put together a program to be presented at the senior citizens center. Alex said that part of the senior citizens program included Alex and a few other boys playing the guitar, singing a song and then teaching a small lesson about faith. Alex mentioned that one of the young men that participated in the program, gave their little group the name of "Elder Nicholes and the three Nephites". Then after doing all of that, they went home and help make dinner for the family that they live with and a couple that they have been teaching. I am sure that when Sunday was over, Alex was very tired but also very satisfied with all that he was able to accomplish.
In addition to all of these events that have happened in the last week, Alex also told us about some really great experiences that they had with some of the other people that they are currently teaching. Hopefully these kinds of experiences will continue and more good things will happen.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
There is something to be learned in every experience
Things seem to be going well for Alex and his companion. Alex wrote us last week to tell us that they had one of their best and craziest weeks ever. Their week included some really great experiences with a few of the people that they are currently teaching as well as one really awkward moment with another person during sacrament meeting.
Alex told us about a small community called Jacobs Creek not too far away from Burlington. He said that this place is so small that rather than being a town, you might just call it a gathering of houses and trailers. They originally went to Jacobs Creek to look up a less active member of the church. I'm not sure what happened with the person that they went to see, but since the town was so small, they decided to just start knocking on a few doors just to meet some of the people. At first, the idea of tracting in this little town might not have been the best idea. From what Alex told us, he has never been chased by so many scary dogs in one afternoon. Then came the worst and scariest experience of all. Here is how Alex told the story:
Alex told us about a small community called Jacobs Creek not too far away from Burlington. He said that this place is so small that rather than being a town, you might just call it a gathering of houses and trailers. They originally went to Jacobs Creek to look up a less active member of the church. I'm not sure what happened with the person that they went to see, but since the town was so small, they decided to just start knocking on a few doors just to meet some of the people. At first, the idea of tracting in this little town might not have been the best idea. From what Alex told us, he has never been chased by so many scary dogs in one afternoon. Then came the worst and scariest experience of all. Here is how Alex told the story:
"... to top it off I got bit by Satan’s Chihuahua!! We knocked on this one trailer and this Chihuahua bolted out the door and bit my leg! But don’t worry no harm, it was just really funny."
But then, as it always goes with missionary work, after the trials comes the reward. Alex said that they knocked on the door of a really nice older couple who invited them in to talk. They all talked for a while and found out that the couple was familiar with the LDS church and had many ties back to Utah. At some point during the conversation, Alex's companion mentioned that he was interested in fixing cars and would like to be a mechanic. At that point the older gentleman asked them if they would like to see the completely rebuilt 1971 Chevy Corvette Stingray in his garage. Of course these missionaries said yes and of course they just had to get some pictures of this really cool car.
We didn't hear much more about how things ended up with this older couple, but Alex did say that during the rest of the week they were able to find several more people to teach and a few of them were very interested in hearing more about the church. Hopefully with some of these people, Alex and his companion will be able to continue the work in Burlington and help the branch grow a little more during the time that they have there. They have also set a small goal for themselves to give out a whole case of Books of Mormon during a six week period. So far they have placed about 25 books with about 25 more to go. I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks whether they made their goal or not.
If you remember back when Alex first learned that he would be getting transfered to Burlington, he said that one thing that keeps many of the people employed there is the nuclear power plant. Well, this week on their P-day, Alex and his companion had the opportunity to take a tour of the power plant. Apparently the people that they live with have the right connections to give a couple of missionaries the grand tour. Of course before they could go on the tour, the security people at the power plant had to do a background check on Alex and his companion and as you would expect, they both passed with flying colors. Alex said that they got to see the whole place except the reactor itself. That is one area where visitors aren't allowed and probably for very good reason. Alex said that the whole place just blew his mind. There were so many valves, pipes, levers, buttons and everything else that you could think of, it was just crazy. He said that he really learned a lot about how a nuclear power plant works and that it was really cool. As Alex stated it, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity since there are only 100 nuclear power plants in the whole country and only 3 in the western United States. Alex even got to see the control room where Homer Simpson sits. ;-) Anyway he did say that there are lots of radioactivity detectors throughout the plant and that they even had to be scanned for radioactivity before they left. Luckily the glow around these Elders had nothing to do with being radioactive.
Since this last Monday (P-Day) was also Memorial Day, everything in Burlington was closed so they had a little time to kill before the big power plant tour. For Alex, that means it is time to work in a little exercise just so that he can stay in shape. A little exercise for Alex apparently means a 6 mile run. Thankfully, as Alex put it, his companion was good enough to ride his bike along side Alex as he ran 2 miles to the local track, 2 miles on the track itself and then another 2 miles back home again. Then somewhere in the middle of all of that, Alex had his companion time him as he ran a mile on the track just to see how his time was holding up to his pre-mission days. According to Alex, his time was holding up pretty well. It's a good thing that missionary work keeps him so busy during the rest of the week, otherwise Alex might just pull a "Forrest Gump" and start running until he got tired and who knows when that would be.
Alex is having all kinds of experiences and opportunities as his mission goes on. Some of the experiences have to do with the people that he is meeting and teaching and other experiences have to do with where he lives and what is going on around him. One of the things that Alex and his companion have been doing is going out to meet some of the less active members of the Burlington branch. In addition to the Jacobs Creek experience, Alex said that they went to look up another church member who lived out in the countryside somewhere. When they got to the turn off that lead up to the member's house, Alex said that the driveway up to the house was full of mud holes. They really weren't sure if their little Ford Fusion was going to make it through. So they said a little prayer and then put the pedal to the medal. Luckily they made it through the mud holes but when they got to the house, they saw the man that they had come to visit staring at them through the front window. Alex's companion at that point made the comment that maybe they should have prayed instead that this guy wouldn't kill them. Anyway, the man turned out to be really nice and they ended up having a rather interesting visit, to say the least.
Other experiences include Kansas itself. Alex mentioned that when he first arrived in Independence Missouri, he wasn't quite sure what he had gotten himself into. When he arrived there it was late fall and everything looked brown and barren. That really made him miss the mountains of Utah. But now that it is spring going into summer, things have really changed. Alex said that the other day he actually experienced fire flies for the first time. He described it has looking at a whole field of Christmas lights all lite up and flashing. He said that Kansas is really a beautiful place in the spring and summer and that he really loves it there. But he still misses the mountains.
Alex also experienced going to the church services of another demonination. We didn't get the whole story as to why they were going to another church, only that they had gone with some people that they were teaching. From how Alex described the experience, it just seemed to be lacking. The minister talked about Christ during the sermon, but there just didn't seem to be a lot of substance to the whole thing. He said that the people were nice, but there just wasn't the spirit there that he is used to.
As they say, there is always something to be learned from every experience.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
A Mother's Day phone call
It was a big we last week with all of our Mother's Day celebrations. Actually one of the most exciting parts of Mother's Day was the fact that Alex had the opportunity to call home. He called us right after we got home from church and we were able to spend some time talking with him on the phone. To make sure that everybody could hear and had the opportunity to talk, we set up the speaker phone in the middle of the kitchen table. Then we all sat around the table and enjoyed our time as a complete family with one of our family members participating over the phone.
Alex told us all about his new assignment in Burlington Kansas. I think we mentioned last time that Burlington is a rather small town in the middle of Kansas. Alex told us that the whole town is about twelve blocks long by about twelve blocks wide. He said that the streets in Burlington are empty most of the time since there isn't a whole lot of traffic in a town of about 2,400 people. In fact most of the time they can just walk down the middle of the street and not even worry about being hit by a car or anything else. This is a real change from being in Lawrence where there is always a lot more going on all of the time.
Remember that slick 1980's vintage bike that Alex is so proud of? Well he told us that his bike isn't in such good shape anymore. Apparently he and some of the other missionaries were having a little too much fun riding their bikes in unusual ways (if you catch my drift). Alex must have landed his bike in a funny way which caused the shifter cable to break. Now a bike which used to have ten speeds, only has one. I'm not sure which gear his bike is stuck in, but Alex told us that it is good enough to ride around on since there are no hills in Burlington. Speaking of "no hills", Alex also told us that they can ride out to the edge of town, stand in the middle of the street and see one long straight road that only seems to end when it hits the horizon. That's how flat it is. So given that kind of terrain, there really isn't any need for more than one gear on his bike.
Getting back to the Mother's day phone call, hearing Alex's voice on the phone was almost like the good old days sitting around the dining room table and talking. In fact while he was still on the phone telling all about life as a missionary, I was able to fix Mother's Day dinner, have the kids set the table and call everybody to dinner, including Alex (well, virtually anyway). Once we all finally sat down at the table to eat and with the speaker phone still in the middle of the table, I called on Alex to give us a blessing on the food. At that point we all folded our arms, bowed our heads and let Alex bless our Mother's Day dinner all the way from Burlington Kansas. He gave a wonderful prayer over the phone but unfortunately he couldn't actually eat the food that he just blessed. But then that might have been to his advantage since it is his mother who is the cook in the family but she had the day off due to it being Mother's Day. Well, not too much longer after that, our phone call came to an end, we all said goodbye and look forward to hearing his voice again at Christmas.
The next day was Alex's P-Day which if you aren't familiar with the way a missionary's schedule works, it is basically the one day during the week that they have to write letters, take care of things like laundry, shopping and other errands and also get in a little basketball or other activities. Being P-day, Alex sent us his usual family letter but obviously since we had already talked with him on the phone the day before, his letter was kind of short. He told us a little more about the people that they are teaching in Burlington and how they have spent much of their time visiting members of the church who are less active at the moment. Since there haven't been any missionaries in the Burlington for quite a while, they are having to do a lot of tracting and figuring out other ways to meet people who might be interested in listening to the message that a couple of LDS missionaries have to offer. From what Alex told us, it sounds like they have been fairly successful in the short time that they have been there. But then there is only so much tracting that you can do in a small town before you run out of doors to knock. So being a little more creative like they did in Wamego and Lawrence with raking leaves and shoveling snow, might be the way they need to go.
This week Alex sent us another letter telling us all about the great week that he and his companion have had. I mentioned that they have only been in Burlington for a few weeks and they have already found several different people who are interested in listening to these Elders. Alex sounded really excited in his letter due to many of the experiences that they had during the past week. He described some of these experiences this way:
Alex told us that they discovered a new way to make tracting a little more successful. Go tracting in the rain. He said that the other day it was raining fairly hard but they decided that they would go out knocking on doors anyway. As it turned out, many of the people that they met must have felt sorry for these poor soaked missionaries and let them in to dry off a little. Tracting in the rain turned out to work so well, that they completely filled up their teaching appointment book. On top of all of that, a member of the church in the area also invited the missionaries over to teach one of their neighbors. So needless to say, these two missionaries are very excited about the work in Burlington. Hopefully things will continue to go well for them and they will be able to help the church grow in this little town.
One interesting story that Alex included in his last letter. From what Alex has told us before about Burlington, it is a town with a very diverse population due to the nuclear power plant nearby. There are many very nice houses in town and then there are some not so nice trailer parks. So the other night Alex and his companion decided to check out some of the trailers in town. They walked up to one trailer that Alex described as being very sketchy looking. He said that in addition to just the trailer structure, whoever lived there had also done a little remodeling work using plywood and parts of other trailers. They decided to knock on the door to see if they could talk to whoever lived there. Alex said that a man with long hair answered the door and as these missionaries introduced themselves and started talking, this man told them that he believed that God is a woman. His reason for believing that God is a woman is because only a woman could try us in this way. Well, they got a good laugh out of that and everybody left smiling. I guess that just goes to show you that everybody has their own way of thinking and their own beliefs.
Alex told us all about his new assignment in Burlington Kansas. I think we mentioned last time that Burlington is a rather small town in the middle of Kansas. Alex told us that the whole town is about twelve blocks long by about twelve blocks wide. He said that the streets in Burlington are empty most of the time since there isn't a whole lot of traffic in a town of about 2,400 people. In fact most of the time they can just walk down the middle of the street and not even worry about being hit by a car or anything else. This is a real change from being in Lawrence where there is always a lot more going on all of the time.
Remember that slick 1980's vintage bike that Alex is so proud of? Well he told us that his bike isn't in such good shape anymore. Apparently he and some of the other missionaries were having a little too much fun riding their bikes in unusual ways (if you catch my drift). Alex must have landed his bike in a funny way which caused the shifter cable to break. Now a bike which used to have ten speeds, only has one. I'm not sure which gear his bike is stuck in, but Alex told us that it is good enough to ride around on since there are no hills in Burlington. Speaking of "no hills", Alex also told us that they can ride out to the edge of town, stand in the middle of the street and see one long straight road that only seems to end when it hits the horizon. That's how flat it is. So given that kind of terrain, there really isn't any need for more than one gear on his bike.
Getting back to the Mother's day phone call, hearing Alex's voice on the phone was almost like the good old days sitting around the dining room table and talking. In fact while he was still on the phone telling all about life as a missionary, I was able to fix Mother's Day dinner, have the kids set the table and call everybody to dinner, including Alex (well, virtually anyway). Once we all finally sat down at the table to eat and with the speaker phone still in the middle of the table, I called on Alex to give us a blessing on the food. At that point we all folded our arms, bowed our heads and let Alex bless our Mother's Day dinner all the way from Burlington Kansas. He gave a wonderful prayer over the phone but unfortunately he couldn't actually eat the food that he just blessed. But then that might have been to his advantage since it is his mother who is the cook in the family but she had the day off due to it being Mother's Day. Well, not too much longer after that, our phone call came to an end, we all said goodbye and look forward to hearing his voice again at Christmas.
The next day was Alex's P-Day which if you aren't familiar with the way a missionary's schedule works, it is basically the one day during the week that they have to write letters, take care of things like laundry, shopping and other errands and also get in a little basketball or other activities. Being P-day, Alex sent us his usual family letter but obviously since we had already talked with him on the phone the day before, his letter was kind of short. He told us a little more about the people that they are teaching in Burlington and how they have spent much of their time visiting members of the church who are less active at the moment. Since there haven't been any missionaries in the Burlington for quite a while, they are having to do a lot of tracting and figuring out other ways to meet people who might be interested in listening to the message that a couple of LDS missionaries have to offer. From what Alex told us, it sounds like they have been fairly successful in the short time that they have been there. But then there is only so much tracting that you can do in a small town before you run out of doors to knock. So being a little more creative like they did in Wamego and Lawrence with raking leaves and shoveling snow, might be the way they need to go.
This week Alex sent us another letter telling us all about the great week that he and his companion have had. I mentioned that they have only been in Burlington for a few weeks and they have already found several different people who are interested in listening to these Elders. Alex sounded really excited in his letter due to many of the experiences that they had during the past week. He described some of these experiences this way:
"But things are going really great out here! We had a killer week this last week! ... [The] weird part about being on a mission, you see a lot of stuff that you never saw back home. Like real world stuff, not just dumb high school drama like getting dumped by your girlfriend ;) lol. But yeah its weird trying to help people through all of these serious crisis’s and trials in their life when you have never experienced anything close to it. It’s a good thing Christ knows all about it, because I sure don’t."That is the kind of experience that shows you that a mission for a young man is just as much about learning as it is about teaching others the gospel. It also teaches these young men that life is very different for a lot of people. Not everybody grows up in a nice house with a good family and great friends. Count your many blessings.
Alex told us that they discovered a new way to make tracting a little more successful. Go tracting in the rain. He said that the other day it was raining fairly hard but they decided that they would go out knocking on doors anyway. As it turned out, many of the people that they met must have felt sorry for these poor soaked missionaries and let them in to dry off a little. Tracting in the rain turned out to work so well, that they completely filled up their teaching appointment book. On top of all of that, a member of the church in the area also invited the missionaries over to teach one of their neighbors. So needless to say, these two missionaries are very excited about the work in Burlington. Hopefully things will continue to go well for them and they will be able to help the church grow in this little town.
One interesting story that Alex included in his last letter. From what Alex has told us before about Burlington, it is a town with a very diverse population due to the nuclear power plant nearby. There are many very nice houses in town and then there are some not so nice trailer parks. So the other night Alex and his companion decided to check out some of the trailers in town. They walked up to one trailer that Alex described as being very sketchy looking. He said that in addition to just the trailer structure, whoever lived there had also done a little remodeling work using plywood and parts of other trailers. They decided to knock on the door to see if they could talk to whoever lived there. Alex said that a man with long hair answered the door and as these missionaries introduced themselves and started talking, this man told them that he believed that God is a woman. His reason for believing that God is a woman is because only a woman could try us in this way. Well, they got a good laugh out of that and everybody left smiling. I guess that just goes to show you that everybody has their own way of thinking and their own beliefs.
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